Monday I had some errands to run and while I was going to be out and about I decided to take my camera along.

I was out for about three hours, mostly visiting the places where I have found good subjects before. Nothing going on there so I ended up at the river.

I love the way the sunlight enhances the rocks on the side of this cliff. This image was taken at Mud Lake. I’ve had some good luck at Mud Lake before but it was very quite on this day.

I also stopped at A. Y. McDonald park and saw this barge headed South. It was nice to see there was still barge traffic on the river.

Finally I stopped at the River Walk and saw the same barge going through the railroad bridge. The current must have been pretty strong as he needed this small tug boat to help stabilize the barges going through this tight space.

It was an enjoyable morning and I enjoyed looking for photography opportunities.

Like this:

I have not touched a camera for almost five months. It really shows with these two images. I never gave any thought to my ISO settings or shutter speed. As a result many of my images taken at this year’s annual Turkey Trot were of poor quality and many of them were blurred due to the low shutter speed trying to capture people running.

Ben, Angie, Joshua, and Gabby participated in the 2.5 mile run. Both Gabby and Josh ran the entire run without stopping, which includes a pretty substantial hill. We were all very proud of them.

I missed Josh’s finish as he ran ahead of them the last couple of hundred yards so I wasn’t able to photograph him.

I also found in processing these photos that my Photoshop and finishing skills have suffered as well. Time to get back involved my my camera.

Last Thursday Angie and Jeanne took the grand-kids for a visit at the Hurstville Interpretive Center near Maquoketa, Iowa. I have written about the “Duck Pond” many times on this blog, which is part of the Interpretive Center.

I had lunch plans with a dear friend on Thursday so I asked them if I could join them for a couple of hours. It was a blast to say the least.

The Interpretive Center is a wonderful place to take kids and teach them in a fun way about nature and some history of the area as well. So they spent about 45 minutes looking at and interacting with the displays and creatures the center has. Then they decided to go catch frogs at the little pond in front of the center. That is where the fun really started. 🙂

Joshua caught the first frog. He was methodical in his method and it paid off.

Gabby was finally able to catch one although she got a little frustrated because the frogs just wouldn’t cooperate. 🙂

Austin just couldn’t catch a frog so as is with most kids and water he just decided to play in the water. The water was over the top of his boots so when he walked on land the water sloshed and splashed as he walked.

He said to me, “I tried to catch a frog Papa, but I couldn’t catch a frog.” He was totally wet from head to foot. Being the good mother that she is Angie was prepared for any circumstances and had a clean, dry change of clothes for him. 🙂

Josh’s prize catch. None of the frogs were hurt and all were released back into the pond. They had lunch at the picnic area provided at the center. Wonderful time with the kids.

I was lucky enough to have a photo shoot with a wonderful group of people yesterday in Maquoketa. We met at 8:00 a.m. and I have to tell you that since being retired that seemed awful early considering it is a 50 minute drive from where I live. There was a photographer from the newspaper who needed to get some shots as well so I let her do her shots and then I worked with the group.

I had scheduled a lunch with a good friend and thought the shoot would take a lot longer then it did. Everyone was very cordial and the shoot went perfect. So at 9:15 a.m. we were all done. Now what to do for the next two hours and 45 minutes?

A side note:

When I retired over a year ago my thoughts were that I would really focus and concentrate on my photography. With a significant amount of time on my hands I figured I could really learn even more about my craft. I discovered, however, there were other things that I enjoying doing including taking naps. 🙂

So I went several weeks even months without touching a camera. I didn’t lose my passion for photography but there was other things that occupied my mind.

I had pretty much given up on golf (except for best shot and group events) and what little skill level I had enjoyed evaporated very quickly. I was a member of the Thunder Hills Country Club and enjoyed it for over 20 years. However when I started working out of town and putting in some long hours it didn’t make sense to keep my membership so I took a demit (resigned) from the club. I really missed the social aspect of it but photography and work filled that void.

After a year of retirement I decided that I really missed the friends that I had made over the years and one of my best friends had, for several years tried to get me to come back to the club. So after much thought and discussion I rejoined THCC last month.

For the most part it has been a wonderful experience. Rekindling many friendships and enjoying meeting the new people who have joined our original group. The golf has been a real challenge. I have really struggled with trying to reclaim some of the skill level I once had. It has been frustrating and at times embarrassing but I have to tell you I am loving it!!

Getting back to the club and being with some many old friends has enriched my life immensely

So with camera in hand I spent the next two hours just wandering around the area looking for images. It was really fun and satisfying to have a camera with me again and looking for subjects to photograph. Like any complex endeavor you have to do it on a continuous basis or lose a lot of what you have leaned. Photography, Photoshop, golf, or any other endeavor that requires some knowledge or skill is a use it or lose it proposition. So I’m back on the (re)learning track.

I only had my 28 – 300 mm lens with me so I couldn’t get any closer to the bird even after putting my sensor in crop mode. I still liked the shot.

After my photo shoot and lunch I stopped by the club and practiced for a couple of hours. It was an enjoyable day and very satisfying. I LOVE Retirement!

Like this:

My Dad started taking me (and our family) to fish at Leech Lake Minnesota back in 1955. We went up every year for many years.

Jeanne and I started going up and taking our kids. We just spent a wonderful week at a magnificent resort called Trapper’s Landing.

The customer service and accommodations were amazing. We didn’t have a lot of luck fishing but bonfires every evening and games with the family made up for the lack of fish.

I didn’t take my DSLR out in the boat this year, so these images were shot with the Nikon Cool Pix P1000. It’s a neat camera that shoots in RAW and has a focal length of 3000mm. Very unstable at that focal length and requires a tripod.

These were shot from the fishing boat on a fairly rough day so I had trouble just keeping the image I wanted to make in the view finder.

Happy Father’s Day to my Son-In-Law Ben Roling. He is one of the most compassionate, generous, and thoughtful men I have ever met. I feel so blessed that he and Angie found each other and gave us 4 beautiful grand children.

I am a blessed individual with a wonderful caring wife, two beautiful, successful children and four wonderful grand children. Thank you all for putting up with me.